Differences in spatiotemporal dynamics between soil macrofauna and mesofauna communities in forest ecosystems: The significance for soil fauna diversity monitoring

Abstract

Soil fauna including macrofauna and mesofauna play important roles in the material cycle and energy flow of ecosystems. The spatiotemporal dynamics of the soil macrofauna and mesofauna have been studied in different ecosystems. However, the differences in spatiotemporal variability between soil macrofauna and mesofauna communities in the same ecosystem are still unknown. Soil macrofauna and mesofauna were investigated in April, August and November of 2008 in five forests and a subalpine meadow at elevations from 2659 to 3845 m. Results showed that the community composition of the soil macrofauna was more sensitive to habitat variation than that of soil mesofauna across the seasonal changes, but the community composition of soil mesofauna was more sensitive to seasonal changes than that of soil macrofauna across all the six habitats. Abundance, richness and Shannon index varied significantly between the six habitats for soil macrofauna but had no obvious spatial pattern for soil mesofauna. Moreover, the differences in abundances and diversity index between sampling months were not significant for soil macrofauna, but were significant for soil mesofauna. The spatial distributions of soil macrofauna were more easily affected by the changes in plant community and soil properties than those of the soil mesofauna, while the temporal dynamics of the soil mesofauna were more sensitive to the changes in climatic factors across sampling months than those of the soil macrofauna. These findings indicate that the soil macrofauna and mesofauna communities respond differently to spatiotemporal changes in environmental factors. The effects of plant communities are greater on soil macrofauna than on mesofauna and the effects of season are greater on soil mesofauna. These results also imply that differences from habitats and seasons should be respectively focused on soil macrofauna and mesofauna when monitoring soil fauna diversity in forest ecosystems.